Opening ceremony tableau sparks Olympic flame of controversy
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The opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games included many elements of French culture, from musical performances to sports stars. But one particular moment has elicited a firestorm of controversy.
Among the performances was a scene set on the Debilly Bridge over the River Seine that included drag queens, dancers and LGBTQIA+ icons. Religious leaders from around the world have angrily noted its resemblance to the 15th-century Leonardo da Vinci painting “The Last Supper,” which depicts Jesus and his 12 Apostles in the moments after Jesus announced that one of them would betray him.
Religious leaders from around the world — as well as a cavalcade of American figures — have denounced the performance.
Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh released a statement on Sunday calling the scene “sacrilege.”
“On Friday evening, as part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Paris, a parody of The Last Supper was deliberately presented as entertainment. For Catholics, and by extension to all people of other Christian traditions. It was an insult. But much more, it was a sacrilege!” the statement reads, in part.
He joined a chorus of voices from politicians, cultural figures and religious leaders. Republican U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson called it “shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world” in a post on X from Saturday.
The French organizers of the ceremony posted on social media platform X that the portrayal was actually meant to evoke the Feast of Dionysus, an ancient Greek tradition honoring the god of wine, vegetation, festivity and ecstasy. The post noted that “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.”
The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings. #Paris2024 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/FBlQNNUmvV
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 26, 2024
Anne Descamps, a Paris 2024 spokesperson, apologized for any offense at a press conference on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
“Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think (with) Thomas Jolly, we really did try to celebrate community tolerance,” Descamps said. “Looking at the result of the polls that we shared, we believe that this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense we are, of course, really, really sorry.”
Last night’s mockery of the Last Supper was shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world who watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
The war on our faith and traditional values knows no bounds today. But we know that truth and virtue will always… pic.twitter.com/s88c9ymG9j
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 27, 2024
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker — who drew his own controversy earlier this year — posted a brief clip of the performance on X with an accompanying Bible quote.
“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.”
Galatians 6:7-8 pic.twitter.com/bhCHoO1HXk
— Harrison Butker (@buttkicker7) July 26, 2024
The French Bishops’ Conference released a statement on X denouncing “the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes.”
Paris Games Opening ceremony : press release from the French Bishops' Conference and @holygames2024 ???????? pic.twitter.com/tLHMCqwH08
— Église catholique en France (@Eglisecatho) July 27, 2024
The director of the opening ceremony scene, Thomas Jolly, said, “You’ll never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted a ceremony that brings people together, that reconciles but also a ceremony that affirms our Republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity,” France 24 reported on Sunday.
Heavy.com, a New York City-based sports news website, reported on Saturday that many X users were receiving official Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown requests for videos they posted of the moment. The act was passed in 1998 to amend U.S. copyright law to address “important parts of the relationship between copyright and the internet,” according to the U.S. Copyright Office. Such requests, the article notes, have been common for past Olympics opening ceremonies.